GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Metro Atlanta foreclosure notices are at record numbers as the region's housing market continues to struggle. According to Equity Depot, the 13 county metro Atlanta area saw more than 13,000 foreclosure notices in August, a 59 percent increase over July and a 4.5 percent increase over the previous record high in March.
Gwinnett County leads the way with 2,733 notices followed by Fulton County with 2,518 and DeKalb County with 2,031. Cobb and Clayton counties round out the top five.
Record Foreclosure Notices In Metro Atlanta
Record Foreclosure Notices In Metro Atlanta
Equity Depot President Barry Bramlett told Channel 2's Richard Elliot by phone that the spike may be caused in part by the fact lenders had more calendar days in August to prepare the notices and said it's too soon to tell if this is a trend or simply a one-month anomaly.
Real estate expert Steve Palm of Smart Numbers said the high number of foreclosures is affecting the jobs market. He said builders aren't applying for new home construction permits because they don't want to compete against the low-priced foreclosures.
"New construction cannot compete with distressed resales," said Palm. "New construction means jobs, and right now we're down 93 percent in (new home) permits."
Palm believes half of all home sales in Metro Atlanta right now involve either foreclosures, short sales or people who have no option but to sell their houses. And that, he said, is keeping down home prices.
But if there is a silver lining, people like Brandi Speed-Montgomery are finding it. She bought her first home last year on a quiet Norcross street. It had been a foreclosure. She's proud of the fact she got it at a bargain basement price of $97,000.
She told Elliot that her family would not have been able to buy the home had it not been in foreclosure. Still, she feels bad for the people who lost it in the first place.
"We lucked out," she said. "But I hate that people had to lose the house for us to get it."
WSBTV
